


Tradition

by AlexaNDYE



Series: Pepperony Week 2017 (7/9 - 7/15) [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Family, Pepper's father is in this, Pepper's parents are divorced, Tony is so cute when he's nervous, mention of Pepper's mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 19:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11470152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexaNDYE/pseuds/AlexaNDYE
Summary: Tony and Pepper are well on their way towards marriage, but Tony forgot something very important before he popped the question: he forgot to ask her parents for their blessing.





	Tradition

**Author's Note:**

> Pepperony Week 2017  
> Day 3: Kids/Family
> 
> A/N: This is disregarding Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Pepper got out of the car with a wide grin on her face. She surveyed the house in front of her and took long, deep breath of fresh air. It had been a while since she came home. She noticed the house she grew up in was a lot brighter with a fresh coat of paint and a couple of lawn gnomes. 

She approached the front door and was about to knock on the door until she realized her fiancé wasn’t with her. When she turned around, she saw that he was still standing near the car, as if he was prepared to make a quick getaway. 

“Tony…” she sighed.

“What?” he asked nervously.

“C’mon,” she gestured towards the house.

“Pepper, this is your father’s house.”

“Yes, we’ve gone over this,” she replied as she walked towards him, hooked her arm around his, and led him to the front door. “This is my parents’ place. My dad still lives here, but my mom lives in London.”

He nodded. “Yeah, but there’s also the fact that I didn’t ask them for your hand in marriage. Your dad is going to kill me.”

“He will not kill you.”

“He’s going to kill me and he’s going to make you watch, and then he’s going to introduce you to a nice man that has a killer jawline and is also super rich, but he’s not going to be Iron Man because there can only be one. At least I have that going for me…” He turned to her and kissed her on the side of her head. “Please don’t leave me. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you.”

Pepper could hear the panic in his voice. “Tony,” she began, in efforts to calm him down. “He is not going to kill you. I won’t allow him to.”

Before Tony could reply, the front door abruptly opened, and they saw Pepper’s dad standing at the threshold with a wide smile.

“I knew I heard talking out here!” he bellowed happily.

“Dad!” Pepper came up to him and hugged him tightly.

“I haven’t see you in so long.”

“I know. Work has been busy,” she replied.

“Holy shit…” Tony muttered to himself as he surveyed Pepper’s dad. He was as tall and muscular as Happy; he had broad shoulders and lots of muscle to back up his large physique. He stood tall like the Empire State Building, and he looked almost as solid as the Hulk. He walked up to Pepper’s father and tried not to nervously wave.

Her father looked at Tony and surveyed him from head to toe. “And you must be Tony Stark.” He held out his hand and Tony took it out of fear.

“Uh, yeah,” Tony replied, followed by a feared gulp.

“I’m John, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Pepper’s father said with a welcoming smile. “Ginny talks about you a lot.”

Tony stared up at him. “Yeah,” he replied automatically. Pepper rolled her eyes.

“Well, come in, come in.” John gestured towards the house. “No use standing out here when there’s good food waiting inside.”

Pepper stayed back with Tony for a bit. “You okay?” she asked.

“No!” Tony whispered to her. “Your father is huge!”

“Oh, yeah, he likes to work out. I don’t know why. All he does is golf and go fishing. It’s not like he’s doing any weightlifting competitions,” Pepper replied with a shrug.

“He could probably beat up Happy.”

“Tony, there is no need to be scared. My father is harmless.”

“I’m supposed to tell man that I’m marrying his daughter and that I didn’t think, for a second, about asking for his blessing.” Tony pointed inside the house. “That’s like telling Nat a spider joke and then laughing at her face.”

She rolled her eyes again and pushed him inside the house.

The three of them talked in the living room for ten minutes; they talked about Stark Industries, the Avengers, her father’s hobbies and daily activities, and then she and her father caught up on some news about family friends. It was a casual conversation, or at least Pepper considered it to be, but whenever John asked Tony a question, Tony would tense up and stumble with a his words a bit. It was cute at first until Pepper realized that it was her job to calm him down, so she tried to add in some questions that would make both of them feel comfortable.

After they ate, Pepper ran upstairs to sort out her room; she and her father had talked about throwing away unwanted stuff from her early years to clear some space. She also wanted him and Tony to have a chance to talk to each other, so they could hopefully, or eventually, see eye to eye.

Tony and John chilled outside with a couple beers, but neither of them knew what to say. Tony hoped the awkward silence between them would last until Pepper got back, but it was John who finally said something.

“So, how’d you and Ginny get into a relationship?” John asked, and then he chuckled. “I’m not saying that it was impossible, I’m just saying from all the stuff she’s told me about you, I didn’t expect you two to even consider being in a relationship.”

Tony smirked in amusement. It was a common question; how was an ex-playboy, billionaire, and narcissist, Tony Stark, with an honest woman like Pepper Potts?

“I cleaned up my act and realized who has been there for me all this time. It’s all I can really say. You should be asking your daughter why she even agreed to date me,” Tony replied with a light laugh.

John laughed with him. “I’m glad you did, you know, cleaned up your act. A long time ago, I told Ginny to quit her job as your personal assistant, but she insisted that all her ranting and venting was a stress reliever. She knew you needed her, and I’m not just talking about her job. She cared a lot about you.”

Tony nodded and recalled the countless times Pepper had been there for him; she’s supported him, taken care of him, and pushed him to be a better man. He couldn’t thank her enough.

“Yeah,” Tony replied. “I guess now is a good time as ever… uh…” He faced Pepper’s father and shyly pressed his lips together. He inhaled and then exhaled, and then paused. “I… uh… well—Pepper and I are… getting married.”

John’s small smile slowly turned flat, and then it turned into frown. His eyebrows scrunched up and he began to squint, almost as if he were trying process everything at once. “You… You what?” He sounded like he was about to shout.

Tony immediately took a step back and panicked. “Pepper!” he yelled. “Pepper, I told you! He’s going to kill me!” He looked around and tried to calculate an escape route. “Honey!”

“Dad, don’t!” Pepper shouted as she ran out into the backyard.

“What?” John raised an eyebrow and looked at her daughter, and then at Tony, and then back at her daughter. “Don’t do what?”

Tony was halfway over the back porch. “Huh?”

John laughed once he realized what the couple was thinking. “You thought I was going to be angry?”

Pepper blinked once. “Well, yes. You and mom always talked about who was and was not fit to date me.”

John laughed harder. “That was always your mother, Ginny. I just went along with it.”

“What?” Tony climbed down from the back porch and looked at John in confusion.

“Yeah, it’s not me you need to be worried about. It’s her mother.”

Pepper groaned and massaged the side of her head. “That’s not good.”

Tony gave her a worried look. “Why?”

John chimed in, “Because her mother never liked you. Never. Ever. She’d call Ginny twice a day, telling her to quit and find a better job. Whenever there was bad press about you, her mother would collect articles and send them to her. It was actually kind of funny.”

Tony widened his eyes and stared at Pepper, who quietly reached around Tony and tried to comfort him by rubbing his back. “That’s not funny.”

She gave him a half smile. “Please don’t worry about my mother, Tony. I’ll take care of it, okay?” 

“I don’t know about that,” John said with a laugh. “Your mom is hard to persuade, trust me.”

“Dad!” Pepper yelled. “A little more support would be nice.”

He laughed. “Sorry.” He watched Pepper comfort Tony with some supportive words and a light back scratch. “I am glad that you two are getting married.”

Pepper and Tony both looked up at him.

“You two seem good together.” He walked up to Tony and put on a tough guy look. “I just want to know one thing. Do you love her?”

“Yes,” Tony replied without skipping a beat. His gaze met Pepper’s. “I do. I love her very much.” She broke out into a wide grin and began to blush.

John turned to his daughter. “Do you love him?”

“Yes,” Pepper replied without breaking eye contact with her soon-to-be husband.

“Then that’s all I need to know.” He pulled the couple in for a big hug, and then kissed his daughter. “I’m proud of you two and everything you’ve been through. Promise to love each other, even in the toughest times, and compromise as much as you can. Communicate with each other, respect each other, support each other, and everything else will come naturally.”

Pepper tried not to tear up. “Thank you, Dad.”

John planted a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and hugged her.

Tony smiled widely and shook her father’s hand. “Thank you. And I’m sorry I didn’t ask for your blessing before I proposed to her.”

John waved his apology off. “Don’t worry about it. The only blessing you really need is her mother’s.”

Tony laughed nervously and try to play off the feeling of impending doom. Pepper intervened and scolded her dad. He simply laughed and shrugged.

Pepper and Tony left her dad’s house two hours later.

He kept his eyes on the road as he drove back to Stark Tower. “Your dad is really nice.”

“See,” Pepper said with a large smile. “Told you.” She reached over the console and tangled their fingers together. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. He lifted her hand up to his lips and softly kissed it.

There was a pause.

“So, you’re going to call your mother?”

“Yes, and I’ll meet with her if she’s really angry.”

“Okay,” he replied with a nod.

There was another pause.

He glanced at Pepper. “Should we just rip off the whole Band-Aid and tell her we’re also planning on having a baby?”

Pepper groaned at the thought. “Believe me when I say, I think she’ll actually Hulk-out and kill you, and not quickly—oh no—She’d probably give you a slow and painful death.”

Tony faked a laugh and kissed her hand again, and then sarcastically replied, “I love you, Honey. You’re just so reassuring.”


End file.
